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As we’ve gone through the Story Formed Way, some of the members of the core group have had questions about what we specifically believe on certain points of doctrine. This is understandable. As dedicated Christians, many of us have read books or listened to Christians speakers or radio programs that all are given from different theological backgrounds. If it has been years since your confirmation class, you might have forgotten some of the finer points of Lutheran Doctrine.

Martin Luther actually created his Small Catechism as a tool for the common Christian to be able to learn true doctrine. Originally, the Catechism wasn’t something a 13 or 14 year old child would open for the first time in a church building as they began confirmation class. Rather, it was something a Christian Father used to teach his family the true faith and to help them memorize scripture. Martin Luther intended for you, as scripture exhorts us in Deut 6:1-9, to take every opportunity to teach your children the ways of God throughout the entire day. I encourage all you fathers and mothers to start teaching your children the faith daily through the help of the catechism.

Our core group for the Church Plant would be well served in going back to the catechism as well. It covers what we believe as Lutherans on major points of doctrine such as The Ten Commandments, The Creed, The Lord’s Prayer, The Sacrament of Holy Baptism, Confession, The Sacrament of the Altar, etc. Yet it’s not just Luther’s understanding that is recorded in this book.

Included in the Catechism are many bible verses that are the source of what we believe and teach as Lutherans. This will come in handy as you engage with unchurched friends. They’ll want to know what we believe, but they won’t care much at all about Luther’s words. They’ll be more interested in what the bible says. Luther’s words will simply guide you to truth taught in all of the bible verses that are referenced.

Resources

A PDF version of the Small Catechism can be found here for free. It is a good reference for Luther’s explanation of our understanding of each doctrine. However, it does not reference all of the Bible verses that are in the hard copy of the Catechism

The ESV version of the Catechism can be purchased at CPH.org. I recommend that each member of our core group dig out their catechism or purchase a new one.

One of the many challenges that Community Groups face is how to handle children in the community. We have a key conviction that children should be included and seen as members of the Community Group.

This means they are seen as members of the community that need to be discipled with the gospel as we seek to be a community on mission. If we don’t count the children, then we could easily find ourselves in the situation one of our Community Groups faced where there were 14 adults and a total of 16 children. That’s 30 total people that must be considered and accounted for in order to even meet as a Community Group.

In New York City, there are no apartments that fit 30 people and even if there were, 16 children in one apartment is asking for chaos and destruction. It became unmanageable and impeded the ability of…

In Part 2, we talked about how the Christian life and a personal faith story adds validity to sharing the Gospel Story. Today I want to share why it’s important to always be ready to share these stories.

We all have people in our lives that we know are far from Christ and we feel like we’re called to share the gospel with them. For my mother, this person was her hairdresser. She prayed for her daily and always wanted to share the faith with her, but she never saw a natural way to bring it up.

Every time my mother came home from getting her fair done, she’d stand at the door smiling, waiting to see if anyone noticed her new hairdo. We almost grew to expect it and we’d keep an eye out for her return so that we would remember to say something about her hair style.

One spring day she went to her hair dresser again. When she go home, all of us were looked up, ready to check out her new hairstyle, and we noticed that she wasn’t smiling, but she looked like the dog died.

After some prodding, my mother shared that her hair dresser had asked why my mother was getter her hair cut. My mom responded that it that she was getting ready for Easter later on that week. Then the hair stylist asked, “That’s one thing I’ve never understood about Christians. Why is Easter so important to you guys?”

My mom panicked. She simply said, “Oh, that’s when we celebrate Jesus rising from the dead”….and that was all she said.

Now was my mother’s answer wrong? No! Not at all! It was spot on. Yet she could have given a better answer. She didn’t make the most of the opportunity God had granted her. In fact, her answer probably didn’t make much sense to the hair dresser. Yet if she was prepared ahead of time, she could have shared the grand story of why Easter is important through: Creation –> Fall –> Redemption –> Restoration. If she had memorized those four themes, she wouldn’t have panicked and would have given a much greater answer that explained the significance of Christ’s death.

This encounter wither her hair dresser was years ago. My mother has been looking for another chance to talk to her about Christ ever since. Don’t miss your opportunity. Be prepared to Share God’s Story and to share how it has changed your Story.

You’ve been saved by believing the Good News of that Story. You need to be ready to share it as well because God will allow you opportunities to be his witnesses. Yet what makes that story ring true? They need to see it working in your life.

Before Peter tells us to be ready to share the Gospel Story, he says in 1 Peter2:12,

Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

For people to believe the message of Jesus, they often have to first see it working in our lives. So, we should try to live our lives as if we truly do believe that God owns everything, that he has given us everything we need in Jesus, and that he will give us life eternal with Him. When we don’t do this perfectly because we are still sinners, we can’t cover it up and act “holier than thou.” Rather we need to be honest about our struggles and be ready to live lives of confession, repentance, and forgiveness openly so that others see that the Christian life is attainable and not just for the morally superior. They also then see the Grace of God in action.

How To Share Your Story

Besides being willing to live the Christian Life, we also need to be prepared to Share how God’s Story has affected us. The best way of doing this is by following this outline:

How Was I before Christ?

How Christ came into my life?

How He changed me and my life?

I’m Lutheran, so in my church body we baptize as infants and teach our children the faith from infancy. Many of us can’t remember a time that we didn’t believe. So instead of talking about when we became Christians, the pivotal point in our story is when our faith became our own and not just what our parents taught us, or when our faith was tested and how it brought us through difficult times. So our stories might look a little different. It might go something like this.

I was raised in the faith

When I made my faith my own/ how I grew in it

How it changed me

or

I was a Christian

I faced a horribly difficult situation

How my faith gave me hope and strength

My Story

Personally, I’m a mix of both story methods.

1) I grew up in the faith, but I was never taught why I should believe. I walked away from God and became a selfish individual. Everything I did was for my own benefit. I was in every relationship I had for only as long as I got something out of it. I was willing to lie, steal, or to hurt anyone to forward my own agenda of become successful.

2) Yet I ran into difficult times which forced me to reexamine the faith. After much study I found out how real God was, and how reliable his word was. I was floored by the love that He showed us by sending his Son to pay for all the bad things I had done. I soon realized my life shouldn’t be about me, but really everything was about Him.

3) Now I try to live every day of my life for God instead of myself. I don’t do this perfectly, but I continue to try to serve God with my life because of everything he did for me through Jesus.

How would you tell your own story of Faith? Feel free to share it in the comment section.

Tomorrow I’ll share why it’s so important to always be ready to share these stories.

As Christians we’ve been transformed trough the message, or story, of what God has done for us through Jesus (Romans 10:13-17). The story has been passed on to us, and we’re also called to then pass on that story to others that they too might believe. The apostle writes in 1st Peter 3:15,

In your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, 16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.

Peter doesn’t call on all Christians to be evangelists, or street preachers, or those annoying people who harass you until they get you to accept a bible tract. Rather, what he says is to be ready to share the Gospel. If you’re living the Christian life, some how some way people will notice. In their time of need, or plainly out of curiosity, they will ask you for the reason for your hope. So you must be prepared to share it. To do this, you’ll need to know the basics of the biblical story.

How To Tell God’s Story

The easiest way is to remember these four elements.

Creation –> Fall –> Redemption –> Restoration

If you have these four elements, you can tell people of the entire redemptive act of Jesus.

(Creation) God created this world perfect. It was everything we yearn for. The world was good. We had peace with God, with each other, with the animals, & with nature. It was heaven on earth.

(Fall) Yet God had an enemy who convinced humanity that they didn’t need God and that they could run the world better. So humanity was led into rebellion (that is sin) against God. Because of that rebellion, the world isn’t how it should be. There are natural disasters, wars, famine, hatred, suffering, and death. Yet God couldn’t bear for this to go on forever.

(Redemption) He sent his one and only son, Jesus, into the war zone of this world to offer a truce. He paid the price of our rebellion on the cross so that we could be pardoned and forgiven. He has made it possible for a relationship with God again.

(Restoration) Yet God didn’t leave it there. One day, he will come back and restore all of the creation to what it was meant to be. There will be no more wars, sorrow, weeping or pain. It will be heaven on earth once more. Everything will be made right.

This narrative of Creation, Fall, Redemption & Restoration is something every Christian needs to know how to share. Try to speak or to write the gospel story following Creation –> Fall –> Redemption –> Restoration. Feel free to leave your attempt in the comment section below.

Story has a way of engaging us and getting past the intellect by speaking the the heart. We’re all story formed. The music, movies, tv shows, and books we like shape and form our beleifs. Story Sticks. A good story will be remembered far longer than any sermon, speech, or discussion.

At our church plant, The Story Formed Way, from Caesar Kalinowski and Mike Novelli will be our main discipleship tool to teach the biblical story and theology. I’ve brought my core group through the first few lessons. Currently, we have a few members who are reading the Story and leading the dialogue for the first time. The questions below are meant to help my core group process the video, however, anyone is welcome to leave a comment below.

What are some helpful things he said that could encourage interaction of even unchurched people in the Story?

I’ve known some people who think they’ve heard or read bible stories before so they have nothing left to learn. Is this true? Have you ever read an old familiar story in scripture and have it speak to you as if you heard if for the first time? What made it fresh for you?

What does it mean that God’s word is living and active? Can God speak to and through all of us?

What is imaginative listening? How do you think this could give you a fresh hearing of God’s word?

Caesar Kalinowski suggests beginning each week by reminding people that their input is important to the dialogue after the reading of the Story. He reminds them that the dialogue is like a potluck or buffett. A buffett with only a few options isn’t much of a buffett. What make a meal like this is the rich variety of foods. Likewise, the dialogue with the story is the same. It’s not great if only one or two people are talking. What makes it is the full rich variety of voices and opinions. Every person adds a unique flavor when they give their perspectives and thoughts on the story.

The above video above is one of many videos that come with Mike Novelli’s book Shaped By The Story.